Northwestern a Peace Corps Leader for 10th Year

Peace Corps recruiting on campus Feb. 22 and April 5

EVANSTON, Ill. --- For the 10th year in a row, Northwestern University has placed on the Peace Corps' list of top universities nationwide producing Peace Corps volunteers.

With 27 alumni currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers, Northwestern is No. 11 in this year's rankings among medium-sized universities. Since the Peace Corps was founded in 1961, 880 Northwestern University alumni have served in the Peace Corps.

Two Peace Corps information sessions will be held on the Evanston campus, hosted by Peace Corps alumna Carrie Teiken, who served in Ghana. The sessions will be Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m. in 202A Northwestern Room, Norris University Center, and April 5 at 5:30 p.m. in 208 Armadillo Room, Norris University Center. For more information on the sessions, Teiken can be reached at the Regional Peace Corps office at 312-353-1126 or by e-mail at cteiken@peacecorps.gov.

"Peace Corps service is a life changing leadership opportunity and a great career foundation in almost every field, ranging from international development, education, public health, engineering, agriculture and law, to name a few," said Peace Corps director Aaron S. Williams. Currently, there are 7,671 Peace Corps volunteers serving in 76 host countries around the world.

Relevant skills and experience is required in Peace Corps program areas such as education, English teaching; youth and community development; public health and HIV/AIDS work; environment, agriculture and forestry; and business development and IT. In 2009, the Peace Corps received more than 15,000 applications, the largest number of applications since the agency began electronically recording applications in 1998.